When you run your own company, you want your employees to be the best of the best. That means knowing how to judge talent and being able to gauge who is best to hire after their interviews.
So, how do you hire the right employees?
Interviewing Skills are a Talent
Some people might think you get a gut feeling just from a handshake with a potential employee. They might say that you need good instincts to hire the right people. Some of that may be true, but there are many more important skills required to hire great employees. In truth, the people who hire the best recruits are the people who have great interviewing skills.
This all begins with being prepared. The best interviewers are well prepared in advance for each of their interviews. They know what they want and they’re not afraid to ask the tough questions.
Still, that’s not all that’s required to hire the right employees…
Using a Scoring System
The interviews themselves are just the beginning of choosing the right employees. Once they’re over, it’s important to take all the information you learned during the interview process and rate each candidate using a “Topgrading” scoring system.
“Topgrading is a methodology of recruiting, interviewing, selecting and retaining top talent developed by Brad Smart and Geoff Smart designed to increase your likelihood of hiring and retaining A players.” – Rhythm Systems
To successfully score your interviewees this way, there are some key attributes to assess during the interviews.
Attributes to Assess in New Hires
As mentioned above, there are a few attributes you need to look out for when interviewing your potential employees. Some of these include leadership, values, ability to handle pressure, problem-solving, etc. If you’d like to see the full-length list of these attributes, you can find it in my book Double Double.
Before the recruiting process begins, you need to determine which of these key attributes are most applicable to the role you’re hiring for. Then, as you go through the resumes, group interviews, and one-on-one interviews, look for behaviors and answers that give insight into the candidate’s proficiency in that attribute.
Finally, after all the interviews are finished, assign each applicant a grade out of five for each applicable attribute. Then, after adding up each person’s score, you’ll usually see a clear favorite. More often than not, that person is the person who stuck out as a front-runner all along.
What if More Than One Candidate Scored Well?
If only one candidate scored the best, then you know who to make an offer to immediately. If your grading system has highlighted another great contender, you should follow that up with at least one more round of interviews before deciding. If they still seem like even contenders, it’s then that you have to listen to your instincts.
Like a lot of decisions that come with running your own business, you need to listen to your gut when picking new employees. Even so, having a simple, proven system in place to grade applicants will help you find those diamonds in the rough and screen out the bad apples.
Do you look out for anything in particular when interviewing potential hires? Let us know in the comments below.
If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2016 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
